Gas Molecules from the dying breath of Caesar

[ronaldmaustin]

Gas Molecules from the dying breath of Julius Caesar.  Only ten bitcoins.  Shipped.  If you act now, I will throw in molecules from Jesus Christ's last breath as well at no additional cost.  Impress your friends!

[myrkul]

Bah. I'll sell you matter that has actually been in the heart of a star! Guaranteed actual star-dust!

only 100 bitcoins/oz!

[Anonymous]

PM me if you want water from the dying body of Michael Jackson.

[ribuck]

Gas Molecules from the dying breath of Julius Caesar.

By my calculations, every breath that you take contains about six molecules from the dying breath of Julius Caesar.

An average breath ("tidal volume of the human lung") is 0.5 liters.

Total volume of the earth's atmosphere equals 4.2 billion cubic kilometers, which equals 2.1x10²¹ breaths. Molecules in one breath equals 1.34x10²². Therefore 134/21 of the molecules from any breath of a historical person will be in any breath that you inhale.

I'm ignoring the interchange of gas between the atmosphere, the oceans, and plants, because I don't have any good figures for that.

PS: And every atom in our bodies has previously been part of a star (probably multiple stars).

[myrkul]

PS: And every atom in our bodies has previously been part of a star (probably multiple stars).

Every atom on the planet. Everything you see... stardust. How cool is that?

[kiba]

PS: And every atom in our bodies has previously been part of a star (probably multiple stars).

Every atom on the planet. Everything you see... stardust. How cool is that?

Ya know, those atoms were once dinosaurs, or even our ancestors.

[ribuck]

Ya know, those atoms were once dinosaurs, or even our ancestors.

Yep, every person's body has plenty of ex-dinosaur atoms. It's just as well that there's no truth in homeopathy, otherwise think of all the influences we'd be subject to.

[ribuck]

And in the far, far, future they'll be saying "Every Bitcoin transaction you make can be traced back to the original 21 million coins minted in the 21st century".

[myrkul]

And in the far, far, future they'll be saying "Every Bitcoin transaction you make can be traced back to the original 21 million coins minted in the 21st century".

And there will be ads trying to sell some sucker one of satoshi's original block, no doubt.

[ribuck]

And there will be ads trying to sell some sucker one of satoshi's original block, no doubt.

How much do you think Satoshi could auction off the first block for? (Transferred outside of the block chain so as not to destroy its pristine quality.)

I think someone would pay over a thousand bitcoins for it.

[myrkul]

And there will be ads trying to sell some sucker one of satoshi's original block, no doubt.

How much do you think Satoshi could auction off the first block for? (Transferred outside of the block chain so as not to destroy its pristine quality.)

I think someone would pay over a thousand bitcoins for it.

For historical value, if nothing else. Can you imagine the smithsonian institute's display?

This USB key* holds the wallet.dat of 'Satoshi Nakamoto'. It still contains the original block of mined bitcoins, first generated in 2009.


*NOTE: USB keys were mass-storage devices used before the invention of holographic data storage.

[Anonymous]

And there will be ads trying to sell some sucker one of satoshi's original block, no doubt.

How much do you think Satoshi could auction off the first block for? (Transferred outside of the block chain so as not to destroy its pristine quality.)

I think someone would pay over a thousand bitcoins for it.

For historical value, if nothing else. Can you imagine the smithsonian institute's display?

This USB key* holds the wallet.dat of 'Satoshi Nakamoto'. It still contains the original block of mined bitcoins, first generated in 2009.


*NOTE: USB keys were mass-storage devices used before the invention of holographic data storage.

Eh, USB keys are too volatile for long-term storage. If they are stored on a USB key, they have an expiration date of a decade or two.

[kiba]

Why do you guys think that Satoshi will reveal himself to the world? How can we even prove that it is Satoshi Nakamoto in the flesh?

[ribuck]

Why do you guys think that Satoshi will reveal himself to the world?

We're not suggesting that Satoshi will reveal himself. It would be trivial to verify that the block being auctioned is the first one ever generated, no matter who is the proxy putting the item up for auction.

[myrkul]

Eh, USB keys are too volatile for long-term storage. If they are stored on a USB key, they have an expiration date of a decade or two.

I know, and I thought about that as I hit the submit button, but I thought, "Maybe they'll let that slide..." Guess I was wrong.

We seriously need to work out a better long-term storage media. I don't relish the idea of carving a bunch of 1s and 0s into a monolith to ensure my data survives me.

Why do you guys think that Satoshi will reveal himself to the world? How can we even prove that it is Satoshi Nakamoto in the flesh?

I truly doubt he will, though if discovered, he may be "outed". As for proof, he could provide the private key which unlocks the bitcoins generated with the genesis block. Frankly, I say let the man enjoy his peace.

[ribuck]

I don't relish the idea of carving a bunch of 1s and 0s into a monolith to ensure my data survives me.

No, seriously, feel free to carve your private keys into a monolith.

[myrkul]

I don't relish the idea of carving a bunch of 1s and 0s into a monolith to ensure my data survives me.

No, seriously, feel free to carve your private keys into a monolith.

Might make a tablet, lock it in a safety deposit box. Not quite that paranoid yet.

But seriously If you were to store some text on the various forms of "backup media" humanity has used over the eons, you'd have:
Stone, carefully preserved: Effectively no degradation of data. Linguistic drift will kill the usability before the media degrades.
Paper, acid-free, carefully preserved: Several hundred years. Hell, the original Declaration of independence is still going strong. It's likely that it will outlive the republic which it was the first step towards. (It can be argued that it already has, but that's for another thread)
Optical media, carefully preserved: 100-200 years. It's likely that it will become unreadable due to standard change before the actual media degrades, however
Magnetic media, carefully preserved: 100-200 years. Standard change is probably going to cause the data to be unusable here, as well. (how many people here have old floppies laying around, but have no idea what's on them because you haven't been able to insert them in your pc for nearly a decade?)
Flash memory, any preservation method: 10-20 years, assuming excessive writes and bad load-balancing don't destroy it faster.
Drop.io:   ... 'nuff said.

Is anyone else concerned about the increasing ephemerality of our data?

[Anonymous]

Eh, USB keys are too volatile for long-term storage. If they are stored on a USB key, they have an expiration date of a decade or two.

I know, and I thought about that as I hit the submit button, but I thought, "Maybe they'll let that slide..." Guess I was wrong.

We seriously need to work out a better long-term storage media. I don't relish the idea of carving a bunch of 1s and 0s into a monolith to ensure my data survives me.

Tape storage could work if you put it in a lead container. Paper is the most reasonable solution. However, your best bet is engraving the private key(s) into sheets of aluminum or silver bars, etc.

[BitterTea]

Are we making fun of homeopathy? I'm selling some water molecules that passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell.

[ribuck]

... water molecules that passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell

Eeew. There would be some of those molecules in every glass of water.

How many bitcoins for a supply of pristine million-year-old Antarctic ice?